Hook Norton Old Hooky (Bottle)

Brewed by Hook Norton
Style: Premium Bitter/ESB
Banbury, England

Serve in English pint

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For me, beer can hardly get better than this. This is a beautiful reddish copper with a huge, light tan head that slowly shrinks to a thin permanent top and nice lacing. The smell, very English, is wonderful It has toasted bread, leaves and tea, spices, caramel, grain, hay, stewed apples, fresh fruit, dried fruit,and nuts. The flavour is complex and exciting but restrained. It hasa lot of leaves and tea, nuts, caramelized dried fruit, juice, toasted bread and grain, hints of citrus and nuts, black pepper, and red wine. The finish is hoppy, crisp and clean, yet long and complex.

Bottle @ DØE Øl Festival 2012. Clear amber/deep golden with small off-white head. Aroma is malt, fruit, hops and caramel. Flavour is malt, fruit, medium sweet, little caramel, little grass and medium bitter.

DØE. Clear dark golden with a white head. Aroma is sweet, malty, light caramel and moderate hoppy - fruity. Flavor is medium sweet and moderate bitter. Dry and moderate bitter finish. 100512

Pours a clear and copper beer with a white head. The aroma is malt, caramel, yeast and fruit. The flavor follows the nose. The palate is sweetness. Overall an average beer with a high level of caramel.

average frothy offwhite head. mostly diminishing. clear average density amber body. aroma: heavy malty caramel. if: moderate sweet light bitter. ff: moderate sweet bitter; long duration. palate: medium body, watery texture, medium carbonation, metallic finish. dulçor caramelado, amargor lupulado, escalante, amadeirado, pungente, 115 s

500 ml bottle poured into a chalice. Amber with a thin white head that left intermittent lacing down the glass. Toffee aroma. Fruit and nut toffee flavour, with a strong hint of aniseed and blackcurrant. Medium bodied, creamy, gentle carbonation. Bitterness on the back of the tongue in the finish. Unpretentious, self-effacing, and very enjoyable: This is the kind of bitter that we either do very well, or quite badly in the UK, and this is one of the good ones, as far as I’m concerned.

UPDATED: APR 26, 2012 19/IV/2012 - 500ml bottle @ Klaas’ place - BB: 1/II/13 (2012-389) Thanks to Klaas for sharing the bottle!

Clear amber to copper red beer, small aery off-white head, unstable, dissipates immediately. Aroma: pretty nutty, caramel, ripe apples as well as apple sauce, sweet touch, almonds, orange peel. MF: low carbon, light to medium body. Taste: malty, bready start, nutty, bitter herbal, some caramel. Aftertaste: bit fruity, bitter touch, bready, some orange zest.

Oct 2006: This is another beer I prefer cask. The bottle version however was very pleasant and is what I am reviewing now. Looked a deep amber colour in my 0.2L Hannen Alt glass, the rich cream coloured head being reborn each time I replenished the glass form the brown pint bottle. The aroma was fruity, but manly as well! Good honest beer taste, why is it classed as a brown ale on this site? It is clearly an Amber Ale, a Bitter, in my opinion. The mouthfeel is fairly light, but the taste does stay for a while. I thought this bottle was very drinkable and will consider buying more

Bottle. Has a light golden amber colour with a nice off-white head. A malty aroma along with bread and some hops. Soft and round flavours of caramel malt, bread and hints of sweet fruit. Slick mouthfeel and light bitterness. A decent premium bitter at a bit higher level between all other bitters.

(Bottle) Pours copper. The aroma holds cookie and toffee-like malt. Fruity undertones. Spicy and orange-driven hops as well as a touch of earth. The flavour is light to medium sweet and light to medium bitter with notes of marmalade, fruits, spices, earth, cookies and toffee. The mouthfeel is round and light astringent. Near medium bodied.

Caramel and fruity aroama. Amber with off-white head. Sweet malt, caramel, and fruity flavours. Balanced, mild bitterness.